Lisabel Ting, Straits Times 12 Jul 09;
Trapping wild boars may be illegal here, but eating them is a different matter.
Between January and June this year, Singaporeans consumed some 430kg of the meat, all imported from the United States.
Italian eatery Borgo has been serving it since 2006 as a pasta dish. Its pappardella with wild boar sauce, which costs $22, is popular with diners.
But most still prefer to order the more familiar meats, said manager M. Ganesh.
'It tastes gamier than local pork, and more 'wild',' said Mr Ganesh. 'It can also take several hours to prepare the meat, as wild boar meat is tougher than local pork.'
Mr Stephane Colleoni, general manager of another Italian eatery, Oso Ristorante, said he sells more than 40 portions of its whole wheat stracci with braised wild boar in red wine - at $23 - a week.
Wild boar meat cannot be found in wet markets, only in restaurants.
In recent months, there has been a spate of wild boar traps uncovered in some forested areas of Singapore.
Last month, a sub-contractor fell into a camouflaged 3m-deep pit while looking for herbs and durians in Lim Chu Kang. The impact shattered a bone in his left foot.
A few weeks later, a dog was rescued by animal welfare group Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) in the same area with its hind paw severed.
It is believed that the canine was caught in a trap with metal-toothed jaws that snap shut once pressure is applied to the trigger plate.
Boar traps found by Mr Ben Lee on Pulau Ubin range from kennel-sized ones to those big enough to hold 15 boars. -- PHOTOS: BEN LEE Cage traps more than 2m high have also been found on Pulau Ubin, although these have since been removed by the authorities.
Although wild boars are not a threatened species, anyone found killing or keeping them can be charged under the Wild Animals and Birds Act, and fined up to $1,000 per animal.
No one has been prosecuted for poaching wild boars so far.
'These trappers are mostly middle-aged men and not highly educated,' said Mr Ben Lee, founder and head of Nature Trekker Singapore, an outdoor adventure and nature appreciation group.
Mr Lee regularly spends his weekends hiking through the forested areas of the main Singapore island and Pulau Ubin, searching for and removing illegal traps.
He has encountered groups of poachers more than once, although he has never directly confronted them.
He said that poachers catch the wild boars to eat or to sell on the black market.
'A wild boar can weigh more than 100kg, and at $12 a kilo, one wild boar can fetch quite a lot of money,' he said.
He said that there are shops on the mainland which still sell wild boar meat, but declined to reveal specific locations as these stores most likely obtained the meat from illegal sources.
Large traps are required to catch the wild boars as a fully grown male can weigh more than 100kg, and may possess a pair of 20cm-long upward-curving tusks.
The Singapore Land Authority regularly patrols vacant state land for illegal traps. It said anyone found to be carrying out illegal activities on state land will be referred to the police.
Wild boar is not the only exotic meat available here. Figures from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority showed that from January to June this year, Singapore imported 1,850kg of emu meat, 1,220kg of wild guinea fowl meat and 510kg of kangaroo meat.
While that may seem like almost an entire safari, those figures look ordinary in comparison to the amount of chicken imported for the same period - a hefty 51,500 tonnes or 51,500,000kg.